Principal Investigator(s):Paternoster, Raymond, University of Maryland; Bachman, Ronet, University of Maryland; Brame, Robert, University of Maryland; Sherman, Lawrence W., University of Maryland

Summary:

The purpose of the research project was to examine the
extent to which the perception of procedural fairness by suspects
arrested for spouse assault effectively inhibited their subsequent
violence. The data for this study were collected for the MILWAUKEE
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIMENT, 1987-1989 (ICPSR 9966), which was
conducted from April 1987 to August 1988. In this experiment, all
cases of misdemeanor domestic battery where probable cause to arrest
existed were randomly assigned to one o... (more info)

The purpose of the research project was to examine the
extent to which the perception of procedural fairness by suspects
arrested for spouse assault effectively inhibited their subsequent
violence. The data for this study were collected for the MILWAUKEE
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIMENT, 1987-1989 (ICPSR 9966), which was
conducted from April 1987 to August 1988. In this experiment, all
cases of misdemeanor domestic battery where probable cause to arrest
existed were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) warning
with no arrest, (2) arrest with a brief detention period (average of 3
hours), and (3) arrest with a longer detention period (average of 11
hours). Variables include demographic and background information, as
well as descriptive variables pertaining to the domestic violence
incident.

Universe:
All cases of misdemeanor domestic battery in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, between April 1987 and August 1988.

Data Types:
survey data,
administrative records data

Data Collection Notes:

(1) This data collection contains 1,067 cases and is
distributed in SAS, SPSS, and Stata formats. Users must use the SAS
syntax file in this data collection to subset the original full file
into subsamples that the researchers used in their analyses. Please
reference the sampling section of this document for additional
sampling information. (2) Users are encouraged to refer to the
original data source, the MILWAUKEE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIMENT,
1987-1989 (ICPSR 9966), or the Paternoster et. al. article entitled
"Do Fair Procedures Matter? The Effect of Procedural Justice on Spouse
Assault" listed in the "Related Literature" section for this study for
more detailed information regarding the study design and methodology
for both this study and the original Milwaukee Domestic Violence
Experiment.

Methodology

Study Purpose:
The goal of the study was to perform a reanalysis
of the Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment. Specifically, the
purpose of the research project was to examine the extent to which the
perception of procedural fairness by suspects arrested for spouse
assault effectively inhibited their subsequent violence.

Study Design:

The data for this study were collected for the
MILWAUKEE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIMENT, 1987-1989 (ICPSR 9966), which
was conducted from April 1987 to August 1988. In this experiment, all
cases of misdemeanor domestic battery where probable cause to arrest
existed were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) warning
with no arrest, (2) arrest with a brief detention period (average of 3
hours), and (3) arrest with a longer detention period (average of 11
hours). Warned suspects were immediately released at the scene and
were not interviewed by the research team. Each arrested suspect was
taken to police headquarters for processing. Suspects who were
arrested were interviewed while in police custody. The interviews were
conducted by research staff immediately after suspects were booked. A
special team of 36 Milwaukee police officers implemented the
experiment. These officers were assigned to four police districts that
had both high rates of spouse assault and a large proportion of poor,
minority residents. A case was deemed ineligible for random assignment
if the suspect could not be located or had an outstanding arrest
warrant or restraining order, or if the case involved either serious
injury or the threat of violence.

Data for this project used a subset of the MILWAUKEE DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE EXPERIMENT, 1987-1989 (ICPSR 9966), a study that contained
1,200 domestic battery incidents. The researchers eliminated cases for
110 female suspects and 23 cases with missing demographic or
employment information from their analysis, thus leaving 1,067 cases
in the data in this collection.

Sample:

Data for this project used a 1,067 case subset of the
MILWAUKEE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIMENT, 1987-1989 (ICPSR 9966), a
study that contained 1,200 domestic battery incidents. Approximately
91 percent of the suspects in the Milwaukee Domestic Violence
Experiment were male. Since females composed such a small proportion
of the total suspect sample, and because of the possibility that
spouse assault involving a female perpetrator is a fundamentally
different event from that involving a male, the researchers decided to
eliminate the cases for 110 female suspects from their analysis. An
additional 23 cases were deleted because of missing demographic or
employment information, thus leaving 1,067 cases in the data in this
collection.

For their published analyses, the researchers created the first
subset of 825 suspects by selecting the 479 arrested suspects that
answered 4 or more of the questions of interest on the suspect survey
and the 346 suspects who were warned but not arrested. While the
dependent variable was observed for the entire sample, only those
suspects who were arrested and agreed to be interviewed provided data
on whether they believed they had been treated in a procedurally fair
manner. Thus, the sample of 825 suspects was only used for some of the
analyses reported by the researchers because only suspects who were
arrested were interviewed and had an opportunity to provide this
information.

Accordingly, to create the second subset for analyses, the
researchers first selected, from the original full file, the 721 cases
that were male arrestees. From these 721 cases, the researchers
selected only male arrestees that answered 4 or more of the questions
of interest on the suspect survey, thus creating a subsample of 479
male arrestees. The researchers restricted their analysis of the
arrested suspects to these individuals because they did not wish to
generalize the results to individuals who did not complete the vast
majority of items on the survey. Accordingly, in the remaining
analyses, the subsample of 479 arrestees were the principal
focus.

Weight:
none

Data Source:

MILWAUKEE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIMENT, 1987-1989
(ICPSR 9966)

Description of Variables:
Variables include demographic and background
information, as well as descriptive variables pertaining to the
domestic violence incident. Demographic and background variables
include age, age at first arrest, race/ethnicity (black, white, and
other), prior domestic violence incidents, marital and employment
status, stake in conformity, member of community organization, and
member of church. Descriptive variables pertaining to the domestic
violence incident include whether the subject was arrested, whether
the subject was handcuffed in front of victim, physical force used
against subject, angry about being arrested, wrong to harm partner,
formal and informal sanctions, suspect or victim using drugs/alcohol,
police calmed things down, victim transported to hospital, and time
police spent at the scene. Other variables include representation
measure, consistency measure, and impartiality measure, as well as
bond, stigma, and several variables that were not assigned variable
labels.